Affairs in Havana,
A correspondent of the Charleston Courier writes that paper a letter from Havana, containing something interesting to and about "Los Confederades." He says:‘ The war has effected some strange changes in the old Cuban metropolis. Two years ago English was but rarely spoken, except among the educated class. The influx of "Confederados" has brought a smattering of our language into general use, and there is scarcely a shop in Havana where English is not spoken to some extent.
The sympathies of the mercantile class in Havana are warmly with the South. "Los Jankees" are held in great execration, while the "Confederados" are received with open arms. With the Cubans generally a somewhat different sentiment prevails. Two parties exist on the Island — the Spaniards and the native Creoles. The former are in power, and are likely to always remain so. They embrace among them nearly all the men of intellect in Cuba, and attached to their interest are the wealthier and better educated Creoles. From the Captain General down to the soldiers in the ranks they are enthusiastically for the South. The utmost interest is felt in the progress of the war; maps of Virginia, the Mississippi, and Charleston harbor, are eagerly studied, the photographic and lithographic representations of Jefferson Davis, Lee, Jackson, and Beauregard, (who are the great heroes of the war in the estimation of the world abroad,) are familiar to every room, every shop window, and every lady's album, and the qualities, political and military, of our readers, as well as the strategy of the war, are almost as familiar to the public mind in Spain as they are to our own. In no country, I am informed by recent travellers in Europe, does a sympathy for the Confederate States so universally pervade. all classes of the community as in Spain. In England and France there are parties opposed to us; in Spain none.
With the native Cubans the case is different. Thousands of them have been educated in the Northern States, and have imbibed in the Yankee schools not only admiration for the North, but, strange to say, a tendency to Abolitionism. There are among the educated Creoles open advocates of emancipation.
The superior Governor of Cuba, General Dulce, is, of course, restrained by his official position from active manifestations of sympathy for the Confederates, but the feelings of his heart are well known. He has done his utmost to protect the Southern interest in Cuba from the illegal outrages which have been attempted by the yankees. In Havana are at present many refugees from New Orleans, the victims of the cruel orders issued by Banks, expelling them from their homes with scarcely the clothes on their backs.
Among the Southern gentlemen I had, the pleasure of meeting in Havana were Charles J. Helm, the official representative of the Confederate States, and the venerable Pierre Soule. Mr. Helm was the Consul General for the United States previous to the war, and now acts, though unrecognized, for the Confederacy. Mr. Soule has been residing in Havana since his release on parole from Fort Lafayette. His treatment in the Bastille was shameful, particularly in consideration of his gray hairs, impaired health, and long service for his country. He is now much better, and is looking forward to his exchange under the recent cartel. I need hardly tell those who have known this "old man eloquent," that the wrongs of his beloved South still bring the old impulsive quiver to the mouth and the fiery flash to the eye.
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